The Fourth Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Hormone Action in Development and Cancer will be held from the evening of Sunday, July 31st, 2011, until the evening of Thursday, August 5th 2011. The venue for the 2011 conference will be Bryant University located in Smithfield, Rhode Island just 15 minutes from the city of Providence. This Gordon Research Conference will bring together leading scientists, from academia, medicine and industry, working on the hormonal control of development, reproduction and cancer. This combination of researchers, clinicians and industry scientists, together with a unique array of topics, will provide a synergistic cross-fertilization of ideas and knowledge. Major topics will include hormone action on gene expression, development and physiology, and how these pathways can be manipulated by mutations, endocrine disruptors, diet and lifestyle. A new sub-focus for this year will be the hormonal control of metabolism, and the reciprocal roles of newly discovered metabolic hormones on development, clocks, behavior and disease. A major effort will be made to stimulate interactions between the invited speakers and the many young scientists and trainees attending. This effort will begin with a two day Gordon Research Seminar, organized by and for trainees that will precede the conference. We expect the eclectic mix of invited scientists, together with the unprecedented numbers of new and enthusiastic young trainees, will make for an unusually interactive, stimulating and productive conference. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The 2011 conference has been organized in a logical series of sessions that will permit the conference theme to grow in complexity and depth over the course of five days thus permitting significant cross-fertilization of ideas and concepts by the meeting's end.